In stark contrast to the thriving and overpopulated Kingdom of Stars, lies Dongjin, thousands of miles away.
This place has been completely reduced to a colony that has been drained dry, serving as a lifeline for the empire.
Lin Feng's orders transformed into a sophisticated yet ruthless system of governance, meticulously carried out by Wei Zheng, the governor of Dongjin whom he personally appointed.
Wei Zheng, a middle-aged man with a thin face and sharp eyes like a hawk, was the empire's most ruthless official.
His only guiding principle was efficiency. He would stop at nothing to achieve His Majesty's goals.
Dongjin, formerly the Prime Minister's official residence, is now the Governor-General's Office.
Wei Zheng looked at the huge holographic sand table in front of him, which clearly marked the real-time data of every factory, mine and port in Dongjin.
“Reporting to the Governor,” an adjutant in a black uniform reported, “this month’s ‘Flame Crystal’ ore production has reached 300,000 tons, exceeding the target by 20%. All the ore has been loaded onto ships and is being transported to the ‘Skywork’ base on the mainland.”
"Hmm." Wei Zheng's face remained expressionless. "What is the mortality rate for miners?"
"Seven percent. Most of it is due to overwork and mine accidents." The adjutant hesitated for a moment, but still answered truthfully.
“That’s too high,” Wei Zheng said coldly. “Slaves are also the property of the empire and cannot be wasted like this. Issue my order to reduce their working hours from sixteen hours a day to fifteen hours. At the same time, increase their nutritional rations by five percent. What I need is continuous output, not temporary exploitation.”
“Tell the overseers that anyone whose mining death rate exceeds five percent should be sent down to mine on their own.”
"Yes, Your Excellency!" The adjutant's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately accepted the order. He knew that the governor's "benevolence" was merely a pretext for more efficient exploitation.
Under Wei Zheng's rule, the entire Dongjin area was transformed into a massive, highly efficient slave factory.
All Yingzhou men between the ages of sixteen and fifty were assigned to "labor camps".
They were miners, construction workers, and dockworkers. Dressed in tattered clothes, they performed the most arduous and dangerous labor under the whips of imperial soldiers and overseers.
They received no pay and were given only a meager amount of food each day, consisting of a mixture of synthetic protein and nutritional paste, barely enough to fill their stomachs.
Anyone who attempted to escape or resist would be publicly executed, and their family members would be cut off from all food rations.
An open-pit coal mine in Hokkaido.
Kenji, once a college student, has now become a dark-skinned, muscular miner with a numb gaze.
He wielded a heavy iron pickaxe, mechanically chiseling at the coal face before him. Sweat and coal dust mingled together, carving black furrows into his face.
"Kenji, take a break," a middle-aged man, also a miner, said breathlessly. "If you keep digging like this, you'll die."
"Death?" Kenji gave a bitter laugh, stopped what he was doing, and plopped down on the ground. "Uncle, what difference is there between us now and being dead?"
He raised his head, looking at the black dragon flag fluttering on the distant tower, and the expressionless imperial soldiers holding blaster rifles, his eyes filled with endless hatred.
“My sister… was taken away by them. My father was beaten to death for hiding her. My mother also died last month from hunger and disease.”
Kenji's voice was hoarse and hollow, "I have nothing left. The only meaning of my life now is to dig out one more piece of coal so that I can get a mouthful of pig feed to keep me alive until tomorrow."
The middle-aged man fell silent. He patted Kenji on the shoulder and sighed deeply. The surrounding miners also fell silent.
Each of them has a history of blood and tears, just like or similar to Kenji's.
As night fell, in the crowded, dirty, and stinking shed, Kenji quietly found several young people like him, whose flames had not yet been completely extinguished in their eyes.
"We can't go on like this." Kenji lowered his voice, his eyes flashing with a crazed light. "We have to do something! Even if we die, we have to take a piece of their flesh before we die!"
"What are we going to do? We don't even have an iron bar," a young man said in despair.
“We can… sabotage it!” Kenji’s gaze fell on the massive conveyor belt that transported coal to the port not far away. “Tomorrow, they’re going to inspect the main bearing there. We can find a way to mix some corundum into it! If we destroy that bearing, this production line will be shut down for at least half a month!”
"This is too dangerous! If we're discovered, we'll all die!"
"If we don't resist, we're just waiting to die!" Kenji's eyes blazed with the fire of revenge. "Do you want to spend your whole lives being worked to death like dogs here? I don't! I want them to know that we Yingzhou people are not livestock to be slaughtered!"
Under his instigation, several young people eventually agreed.
The next day, taking advantage of the maintenance opportunity, they successfully mixed a small bag of diamond powder, which they had hidden on their person, into the lubricating oil of the main bearing.
When the conveyor belt restarted, a piercing, teeth-grinding friction sound rang out, and then the huge bearing, billowing thick smoke, completely failed with a loud bang.
Looking at the malfunctioning conveyor belt and the panicked overseer, Kenji and his companions felt a twisted, vengeful thrill.
However, their excitement lasted for less than an hour.
Governor-General Wei Zheng's reaction was faster than they had imagined.
A “punitive force” composed of powered armored soldiers descended from the sky and sealed off the entire mining area.
Wei Zheng's holographic image appeared in front of all the miners, and his voice was colder than the Siberian wind.
"The empire's property has been vilely vandalized. I have no interest in finding the culprits."
He paused, then continued in a judgmental tone:
"Now, we will implement the 'collective punishment' system. Starting from the location where the track is paralyzed, one person out of every ten people will be executed. This will continue until someone voluntarily steps forward."
Upon hearing this, all the mine owners were gripped by extreme fear.
Soon, the soldiers began randomly dragging people out of the crowd. Those dragged out cried and begged for mercy, but all they received was the cold muzzle of an blaster.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots, like the drumbeats of death, struck the hearts of everyone.
Kenji's body trembled violently. Looking at his compatriots who had been innocently killed because of him, his mental defenses completely collapsed.
"It was me! I did it!" he roared as he charged out of the crowd.
His companions, their faces ashen, also stepped forward.
A cold smile curled at the corners of Wei Zheng's lips. "Very good. Very courageous."
He looked at Kenji and said slowly, "But do you think this is the end of it? Your actions are not just sabotage, but treason. Treason is a crime that punishes nine generations of one's family."
“Your family, your neighbors, everyone connected to you will be deprived of food rations for the next three months because of your stupidity.”
"As for you..." Wei Zheng's eyes turned cruel, "You won't die so easily. You will be sent to the 'Black Stone Laboratory' as 'consumables' for biological experiments, to make your final 'contribution' to the Empire's medical cause."
After he finished speaking, his image disappeared.
Kenji and his companions were dragged away like dead dogs by powered armor soldiers. Before being dragged away, he saw the endless resentment and hatred in the eyes of all the miners around him.
He knew that he had not only ruined himself, but also countless innocent people. His resistance only brought about deeper disaster.
This bloody crackdown was broadcast live in holograms to every corner of Dongjin.
The will to resist of all the people of Yingzhou was completely crushed by this bloody scene.
They finally understood that any form of resistance against this empire was futile and would only bring a hundredfold retribution.
All that remains is absolute, ingrained obedience.
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